Playing for Both Teams
by DumbHumanLikeYou
Summary: McKinley's New Directions isn't new to drama during their glee competitions, but now that Kurt is on the Warblers, everything seems to be collapsing. Eventual Klaine.
1. Chapter 1

Adrenaline from the performance was still coursing through Kurt's veins as he walked backstage. The Warblers had been spot-on during their Sectionals set, and the audience absolutely loved them. The air was thick with excitement, and despite the fact that they were all drenched with sweat from dancing under the bright stage lights, everyone hugged each other out of pride and anticipation.

"Kurt, we were amazing!" Blaine said as he pulled his friend in for a hug. He was dripping with sweat, but Kurt didn't mind. He tried to think of a returning complement, but the adrenaline rush had gone to his head, and all he could do was laugh with joy.

The entire group stood right offstage for a few minutes, listening to the applause that was still going strong. As the Hipsters made their way to the stage (very slowly, since half of them had walkers), the Warblers gave them space and headed back to their green room.

Wes was the first to reach the door, and paused as he opened the doorway, causing a domino effect of teenage boys crashing into one another.

"Um, can I help you?" he asked, slowly making his way into the room, team following. As Kurt made his way into the room, he saw the reason for his teammate's apprehension.

Mercedes was standing in the middle of the room. Her hair was straightened and pulled back, and was wearing a grey dress that started white at the top and faded to black at the knee. Kurt would have thought she was stunning, the fashionista he loved, if her face wasn't puffy with tears.

"Mercedes?" he asked quietly. "What's wrong?"

She smiled through the waterworks. "Kurt, you were incredible out there. You were so… _happy_. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have told you I hate you. I don't."

Kurt's eyes watered up as he remembered his last conversation with his best friend. He had come over to tell her he was transferring to Dalton Academy, hoping she'd be proud of him for getting away from his bullies. Instead, she had cried and screamed about abandonment and how he'd been pushing her away all year. Kurt had accused her of getting too close with Quinn and Santana, and that she had been ignoring all the bullying Azimio and Karofsky had put him through because the Cheerios thought it was social suicide to make a stand against the jocks. The fight had ended with Kurt storming out of the house, Mercedes shouting one last _I hate you_ before he slammed his car door shut. He had cried the entire ride home, but had been too stubborn to call her and apologize.

That had been almost a month ago.

"Oh, Merce, come here," he said, walking over to her and pulling her into a hug. The two stood there holding each other, crying, until Kurt remembered there were other people in the room.

"Everyone, this is my best friend Mercedes," he said, making the girl in his arms smile upon hearing she still had that coveted title. "Mercedes, these are the Warblers."

"You were all really good," she said, waving back to some Warblers and shaking hands with Blaine, who was always ready to introduce himself to a new friend.

"We're really excited to see your set," the captain said. "We've heard nothing but good things about New Directions from Kurt."

Mercedes laughed dryly a she sat on one of the couches next to Kurt. "You guys don't have to worry about anything. We're a mess over there," she said, pointing out the door to where New Directions were situated down the hall.

Some of the Warblers asked her what songs McKinley would be performing as Kurt's cell phone rang. He listened for a moment before hanging up upon hearing Figgins' recorded voice. He got a phone call every other day from his old school, telling him he would be facing severe punishment if he continued to miss more school. Apparently no one had filed the paperwork that he had transferred schools. He gestured at his phone and rolled his eyes at Blaine, who laughed, knowing exactly who had been at the other end.

Sitting back down, Kurt wrapped his arm around Mercedes, the familiarity of their friendship coming back to him. He had just begun to ask her how Lauren Zizes was doing as his glee club replacement when a door slammed from down the hall. Although the door to the Warblers' green room was closed, they could clearly hear the shouting.

"This is bogus! We're going to suck out there, and then I'm going to have to go back to juvie! I'm out, dudes. I'm going to skip town while I still have a chance."

"Puck," Kurt and Mercedes said in unison as the former's teammates shared looks of confusion and fear. Mercedes stood up, adjusting her dress.

"I'm going to see if I can stop Mr. Mohawk over there from running out on us," she said, half-laughing. Kurt ran over as she was about to reach the door and pulled her into another hug.

"Break a leg, gorgeous," he said.

Kurt watched as she stormed off down the hall after Puck, who had broken free of Mike and Finn's grasps and was searching for the nearest exit. "I do not miss that drama," he joked as he closed the door. However, he secretly missed New Directions as much as he had missed his best friend. He sat down next to Blaine as Dalton listened to the Hipsters over the P.A. system (the group wasn't even in the running of winning sectionals; they were adorable yet tone-deaf – and probably actually deaf).

A scream from down the hall made the entire room jump. The Warblers rushed down the hallway to the New Directions green room, letting Kurt push his way to the front.

"What's going on?" he asked, walking in and seeing his entire old glee club huddled around someone on the floor. Mike was the first person to pull his attention from the ground and looked at Kurt.

"It's Zizes. She fainted."


	2. Chapter 2

Kurt watched in silence as Finn and Sam picked up Lauren Zizes and carried her over to the couch. She was still unconscious. Two of the Warblers returned from finding a first-aid kit and rushed over to help. He wrapped his arm around Mercedes, who was standing next to him, scared and concerned. Rachel was pacing around the room, looking as though she was going to pull her hair out.

"I think she's going to be okay," Sam said to her, leaning over Zizes. "Unconscious for a while, but she'll be fine."

"What are we going to do?" Berry asked the room, looking as though she was on the verge of tears.

Finn's head shot up as he realized why his girlfriend was having a panic attack. "She was our twelfth member," he said slowly. "We can't go on without her."

The room silenced around him. They stood like statues, not speaking, until a loud thud brought everyone out of their own minds and back to the room.

Puck had punched the wall, leaving a considerable dent. "So, that's it?" he asked. "We just forfeit, just like that?"

Nick Davies of the Warblers spoke up. "There's no way you can explain the situation, and go on with eleven?"

Rachel shook her head, rattling off the rules of the show choir book she had memorized. It was at least twelve members, or nothing. No exceptions.

"What if we talked to the judges and said we don't care if you're technically disqualified? We want you to perform anyway," Blaine offered. Kurt felt Mercedes squeeze his shoulder and he turned to her, smiling despite the situation as she silently gave him her approval. Rachel refused the offer, and returned to pulling her hair.

"What if I called another Cheerio?" Quinn asked. "Maybe she'd get here in time, and we'll just tell her to sway in the back."

"Lima is over an hour way. We go on in thirty." Sam wrapped his arm around his girlfriend. "Good idea, though. We just need someone from McKinley to chill in the back and be a twelfth member. Does anyone have their friends in the audience?"

Kurt felt vibrations against his leg. He pulled out his phone, reading a text from his father telling him how proud he was. He was about to put his phone away when he remembered the call he had gotten a few minutes ago. He looked from his phone to Blaine, who had been watching him. Looking into his eyes, Kurt knew the same thoughts were going through their heads.

"I'll do it," he said, startling the room.

"What?" Finn asked, clearly not following his brother's train of thought.

"All those phone calls we've been getting at home, and on my cell," Kurt said, trying to get Finn to understand. "From the school?"

Finn laughed dryly. "Yeah, they keep yelling at us, telling us if you miss any more school –" He stopped abruptly, realization dawning on him.

"The school still thinks you go to McKinley!"

"I'll be your twelfth member," his step-brother said, turning to New Directions. The room erupted with argument, both teams expressing their dislike for the idea.

"You can't perform with two different groups; we'll be disqualified!" David yelled, as Puck verbalized his agreement. "There's got to be some rule against that."

"Yeah, I'm all for good sportsmanship and letting these guys go on, but I'd much rather win by default than give up Sectionals to the Hipsters," another Warbler, Kyle, said.

All eyes turned to Rachel. She ran through the show choir handbook in her head, feeling the heat of thirty people watching her.

"It specifically states that you have to be a student in the school to perform," she said, speaking very slowly, a rarity for her.

"Which I am!" Kurt exclaimed. "Well, sort of."

"Does it say anything about performing in more than one glee club?" Tina asked, her hands gripping the handles of Artie's wheelchair so tight her knuckles were white.

As though in slow motion, Rachel shook her head. "Nothing. If you're a student, you qualify. I guess it's never come up before."

Kurt grinned. "I'll do it."

He turned back to see the Warblers in the doorway, each one wearing a different expression of anger, apprehension or admiration. Blaine took a step forward, and Kurt worried that his friend and crush would yell at him for turning his back on Dalton Academy. He was completely caught off guard when the older boy pulled him into a hug.

"Break a leg, Kurt," he said smiling as they finally separated. Kurt blushed furiously as seeing the unadulterated pride in Blaine's face. The captain looked at his team, shrugging. "We said we wanted some good competition, right?"

"Mike and I will teach you everything," Rachel said, pulling Kurt to the open space and showing him the song selection. Mike stood up and quickly ran though the dance steps as the Warblers started making their way back down the hallway. Halfway through teaching Kurt the first number, the Asian paused.

"Wait, I have to teach you the girls' part, don't I? Isn't that going to throw off the whole choreography, if Kurt's with the girls?"

"He's almost a girl," Brittany said, ever-present vacant expression on her face. Kurt laughed and nodded, and began learning the new steps.


	3. Chapter 3

It hadn't been Kurt's cleanest performance, but it was better than nothing. Standing up on stage with New Directions felt so familiar, and he couldn't help but smile as he listened to Sam and Quinn's opening ballad. He had managed to keep up with the choreography, which had been rather intricate, seeing as Mr. Schuester had finally named Mike and Brittany dance captains. Had he had more time to practice, he would have added his own harmonies to the set, but Kurt instead sang loud and proud along with Sam's harmony line. Even though he had been working for weeks at Dalton Academy on their set, he felt the same jolts of pride and exhilaration as twelve McKinley heads went down together as the crowd went wild.

A strong feeling of déjà vu swept over him as he hugged his teammates once the curtains had closed. They made their way back into the bowels of the auditorium laughing and cheering.

Blaine was waiting outside the green room door, smiling as he saw Kurt walk towards him. He told Finn that a few Warblers were checking up on Lauren Zizes before turning to his classmate.

"Are you sure this wasn't the plan the entire time?" he asked, laughing.

Kurt shook his head furiously, shocked at the accusation.

"I'm kidding," he grinned. "But really, Kurt, you guys were really good. And you were such a natural up there."

Kurt laughed. "Thanks. It did feel pretty natural, being with them again."

Nodding, Blaine's smile fell. He looked at the ground, sighing. Kurt put a hand on his shoulder and asked if he was all right. Blaine looked up.

"I… I guess you're probably going to stick with the team that wins," he said sadly.

Kurt was stunned. He hadn't thought of what would happen after today, after the performance. He knew that Dalton's performance had been solid, but his old glee club had a really good chance of winning. And Kurt wanted nothing more than to go to Regionals, and try to make it to New York City for Nationals.

"I don't know," he said honestly, gazing off into space.

Blaine mumbled something that Kurt didn't catch. He looked at the older boy, silently asking him to repeat his words.

"If you guys win… I'm really going to miss you, Kurt."

Blushing, Kurt nodded, knowing he was going to miss Dalton Academy if he decided to stay with New Directions, something he was seriously considering. He would miss his honors classes, which had invigorated him instead of being put to sleep at McKinley. He would miss the architecture of the school, the way he felt pampered and cozy as he walked down hallways that weren't blasted with fluorescent lighting. He would miss the Warblers, his classmates who respected him for who he is, not what his orientation was. Most of all, he would miss Blaine, one of his closest friends and the boy Kurt had become instantly smitten with upon setting foot at Dalton. He had constantly debated with himself about whether or not the dark-haired boy felt the same way.

Unless he did something right now, Kurt had a really good chance of heading back to Lima without ever knowing. He needed to say something, _do_ something; it was now or never.

Kurt kissed him.

It was an image he had played over in his head a thousand times. Kurt had imagined Blaine's lips, tried to predict the way he would taste, and wondered how he would feel once he finally was part of a kiss he wanted, as opposed to Karofsky's rough surprise attack. He had imagined butterflies in his stomach, curling toes, tingling fingers and a raging heartbeat. Kurt's lips touched Blaine's, and it was everything he had expected.

When Blaine began to kiss back, it became ten times better.

Sectionals vanished from Kurt's mind; all he cared about was the boy in front of him. After a minute, the two separated. Blaine grinned.

"Wow, I've… I've wanted to do that for a while."

"Then why didn't you?" Kurt asked, confused.

Blaine blushed. "I wanted you to be in charge of your first kiss."

"But –" Kurt began, thinking of Karofsky. Blaine placed a finger over his lips, silencing him.

"I told you, it doesn't count if you didn't want it," he said. Pulling his finger away, he asked, "So, how did you like your _first kiss_?"

Kurt smiled and kissed him again. They stood in the hallway for several minutes, enjoying kissing and having their arms around each other. The door that Blaine was leaning against opened, and they jumped apart as they saw Wes, Rachel and Mike on the other side. The Warbler burst out laughing.

"About damn time, Blaine!" he said, patting the two boys on the back and heading down the hallway. "I can't wait to tell the guys; they've had a huge bet going on when you'd finally do it!"

Blaine laughed awkwardly as Kurt turned towards the McKinley students. Mike, who never one to use too many words, simply smiled and shrugged. "Cool, I guess."

"Well, I can't exactly say I didn't see this coming," Rachel said, and Kurt wished she had the same way with words as Mike. "And had this happened at any other time, I would have warned you about my relationship last year with Jesse. But seeing as we've already competed… I'm really happy for you, Kurt."

Kurt grinned at the acceptance of his friends. As Rachel talked to Blaine about having two gay dads and being perfectly comfortable with public displays of affection between men, he walked into the green room to check on Zizes.

An hour later, Kurt stood on the auditorium stage, Dalton Academy blazer on top of the maroon dress shirt he wore while performing with New Directions (Artie had brought an additional set of clothes, something he had been doing since his first high school slushie). He had Mercedes' hand in his left, and Blaine's in his right, and knew that it didn't matter which school's name was in the envelope. He couldn't stop beaming, and barely heard as the judges announced the winner.


End file.
